Deep Voice....tracking tips?

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Member Since: Jan 19, 2005

Hey, I have been rapping, recording and mixing myself for a couple years now and I am always looking to better my ears and my technique. Even if you may not like rap my questions are pretty general. First of all, we only have one vocal chain available to record through (very basic home setup) and we record in a treated room so the vocals are pretty dry (no room acoustics). We use a Blue baby bottle mic with the Focusrite Platinum preamp recording directly into cubase using a m-audio card.

The problem always seems to lie in my voice. I have a somewhat deeper voice and alot of the times it comes out sounding hollow and hard to understand. Along with my deep voice I rap pretty quickly so it makes it even more difficult to understand. Even though I strive hard to announciate every word it doesn't seem to come through in mix down.

I have had some success in a few songs so I do get it right every once in a while but it seems to be a hit and miss. I guess what I am looking for is tips from poeple that have delt with an artist with a deep voice...tracking tips....mic position....eq tweaks. Again, I know it is different for every voice but maybe you can share a few things that would apply to me. The ideal result would be clear vocals but still have that power from the lower tones without being muddy.

You can hear me on the first verse of "fall in" on our sound page. Beware there is explicit lyrics.

www.myspace.com/shutdownproductions

I know that the myspace streams sound horrid but it might give you and idea of what I sound like. Thanks

-C

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Hold 'Em Czar
Member
Since: Dec 30, 2004


Jul 03, 2007 02:50 am

just be mindful of the proximity effect of your mic, basically step back a foot or two for less bass, while mixing use a high pass filter set to 120hz or so...you don't really need anything down there on your vocal track (think of how many times do you hear vocals commin' out of them big speakers in the trunk?). don't rely on additive eq to 'add clarity' get it while tracking...also eq out your vocal range on every other track that's playin'...be careful not to over do it though, i did a hip hop mix that had a HUGE GAPING HOLE in all the music tracks around 2k and it sounded awfull...it only takes a few db's to create space.

Member
Since: Jan 19, 2005


Jul 05, 2007 11:41 am

WYD, thanks for the tips. I am going to play around with the mic position to get the best possible sound, then hopefully polish it up in the mix. The compressor I use automatically puts on the 120hz hi pass and notching out a little space in the instrumental would probably give it a chance to sound better. Thanks
-C

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